The Twilight of the Divine Realm

The Spirit Realm gods and Lokina clicked their tongues as they watched the battle goddesses react with such nimble precision. The disappointment was especially crushing for the Spirit God Kings, who had only just begun reconstructing their bodies and regaining their strength.

‘No matter how strong those battle goddesses are, they’re only Main Gods at best. I underestimated them.’

‘Yet the moment Hephais, trusting in the body that had barely learned his techniques, charged in with a slight advantage, she was shattered instantly.’

‘We couldn’t even find a way to defeat Hephais, who completely nullifies attacks from those of equal or lower rank and possesses overwhelming physical strength.’

‘But that berserker-like battle goddess ignored the damage to her own Divine Realm, slammed directly into the barrier, and used a higher-tier divinity to overcome it in a way that defies common sense, securing victory.’

The gap between themselves—who couldn’t find a path to victory even after reviewing detailed data—and the enemy who discovered and executed it the instant they clashed on the battlefield was an insurmountable wall. The result was so overwhelmingly clear that their former pride in being the Origin of their clan and Highest Creator Gods shattered into pieces.

“It’s exactly as the data the Main God of the Divine Realm provided. By the standards of the current Master Universe, they’re war gods who have reached the threshold of Upper Main God. In bodies we’ve only just formed using the vitality the Chief God of the God Realm handed over, we stand no chance. We will bow our heads until we regain our original power.”

“Hah?”

Lokina glared at the Spirit God Kings with a savage smile. ‘These Spirit God Kings may have nothing but empty shells for bodies, but they still possess power on par with Intermediate Main Gods. Yet they’re saying they’ll back down because they don’t want their freshly made bodies destroyed.’

She was starting to doubt whether these were truly the maladapted ones who had once staked their entire clan and even a Creator God’s divinity to charge forward in order to preserve the old system.

That said, her current divinity—reduced to Upper God rank after repeated deaths—didn’t give her the strength to deal with all of them at once. For now, they were still allies. But the more their odds of victory dwindled, the more murderous intent surged within her.

Faced with Lokina’s vicious expression, the Spirit God Kings answered with sincerity rather than excuses.

“We have changed. No—we must change.”

“We want to show it to Sangharama of the Vihara, who used the vitality gained from executing us as the foundation for his development, and to the entire divine race that turned its back on our clan.”

“The fall of our clan was due to my personal foolishness, not because our clan itself was weak.”

“The duty to revive our clan is more important than our pride.”

“We will simply follow the path the Main God of the Divine Realm has given us—the fastest way to grow strong through loyalty.”

It was a declaration that they would bow their heads to even a lower-ranked Main God if it meant accelerating the outcome even slightly.

“We will of course obey your commands as well. Since the Chief God of the God Realm has transferred jurisdiction over all the gods he recruited in the Spirit Realm to you, we will follow without complaint.”

Lokina understood the words spoken through gritted teeth as they stared at her murderous expression. In their hands were the crumpled and tightly clutched reports on the current state of the clan they had once ruled—documents handed over by the Dimensional Lord, the new Main God of the Divine Realm.

The conclusion was brutally simple.

Total annihilation of the entire clan—!

Every single member of their clan had vanished. Only a tiny handful survived as mercenary gods.

Yet it wasn’t that Sangharama had purged the Creator Gods and then gone on to eliminate every subordinate clan member below Main God rank. If they had all been purged, at least there would be hatred to cling to. Instead, they had simply been abandoned.

“Our entire clan lost all its high-ranking Creator Gods after the Master Universe shifted to a ‘strongest-first’ policy. Left in chaos, we were swept away by the massive current and either disappeared or were extinguished.”

Even though they wanted to resent and seek revenge, the Dimensional Lord—the provisional Creator God who had become their new Main God of the Divine Realm—had been resolute.

“I swear on the title of Origin and the Dimensional Mage God path. I will teach you how to create bodies stronger than before. The price is loyalty to the Divine Realm and to me. I don’t care if you find it distasteful to swear loyalty to a human-born god and choose to fight me. But rebellion against the Divine Realm will not be forgiven. And remember this: the only path for you to grow stronger is within this Master Universe that follows the strongest-first principle. It is only the title ‘Garam’ held by Sangharama, the Creator General of the 499th Master Universe, that maximizes the development of the divine race. So choose. Will you charge into another hopeless battle and drag everyone around you into extinction? Or will you endure any humiliation, surpass your past selves, and rebuild the clan that was wiped out?”

“……”

No one answered. They couldn’t.

The Spirit God Kings and Spirit Realm Lords were all fallen figures—once the highest Creator Gods of their clan or direct-line Main Gods who had survived until the bitter end. To demand that such beings abandon their entire past and start over from scratch in the Divine Realm was naturally intolerable. No matter how oppressed by power or desperate their situation, their pride remained alive, which was why they had endured even while having their vitality constantly drained in the Spirit Realm.

But the situation had flipped once again.

The place they had contracted with turned out to be the Divine Realm established by the battle goddesses of the Spirit Realm, who had hidden their early history of defeating countless Main Gods and destroying entire Divine Realms. Rumor had it that they had already reached Intermediate Main God rank or higher and risen to become the Divine Realm Administrators of the highest-tier Divine Realms.

‘They held no personal grudge against her, but those who heard the rumors naturally recoiled in horror and tried to cancel the contracts. However, the malicious clause demanding they pay back a hundredfold if they quit for personal reasons left them with no choice but to comply.’

Unable to run away, they immediately banded together in hostility. On top of that, the subordinate gods of the battle goddesses still remaining in the Divine Realm had also united and begun forming factions, and open confrontations had already started. Behind the scenes, secret duels to determine hierarchy were already taking place. It was the worst possible situation.

Having grasped the full picture, the Dimensional Lord’s provisional Creator God and Lokina, the Lord of the Flipside, let out a sigh.

“They haven’t even reached the Divine Realm yet and they’re already fighting over positions? As expected of gods from the Spirit Realm. They never fail to meet expectations.”

“Indeed, their roots haven’t changed at all. They’ve already forgotten how they destroyed the Divine Realm.”

At the Dimensional Lord’s bitter words—spoken without even a trace of anger—their faces burned with shame.

‘They’re fighting over fruits that haven’t even been given yet, before they’ve even begun. How pathetic.’

What was even more ridiculous was that the Spirit God Kings, who had lost all motivation and were living peacefully like part of the Spirit Realm itself while ignoring even vitality absorption, had responded to the additional recruitment because they once again harbored grudges against those women.

‘There were nearly twenty Spirit God Kings who held grudges against them—grudges even we didn’t know about.’

There was only one thing they demanded in exchange for their loyalty.

A chance to fight them again.

Just how many Divine Realms and Main Gods had they killed that so many of the gods who had lost all hope in the Spirit Realm and nearly been extinguished still clung to such resentment? It was beyond comprehension.

“Is infamy also a form of fame? Truly impressive. You lot who said you had given up on everything and were simply waiting for extinction are now swearing loyalty to me in exchange for a guaranteed chance to fight them on equal footing again? Do you think I’m recruiting Destroyer Gods to annihilate my own Divine Realm? They are my Divine Realm’s Main Gods and powerful war gods. If you could replace them, I might consider such a proposal, but that’s impossible right now, isn’t it?”

The Spirit Realm Waiting Area echoed with the anguished cries of the gods and Spirit Gods. Led by the reclusive Spirit God Kings, they rushed forward, declaring they would offer any loyalty if only given the chance to fight.

‘All the Spirit Gods had decided they could not bow their heads to those notoriously infamous women in the Divine Realm.’

There was only one verdict handed down in response to that decision.

All the Spirit Gods heard it as they stood before the Dimensional Gate that would transport them to the Divine Realm.

“Before I am the Main God of the Divine Realm who holds ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the title of Dimensional Lord and Origin, I am a mercenary god from the Middle World. I fought relying solely on my own strength, won, and climbed this far. I will not forgive power struggles among the weak, but I encourage the strong to fight for their rights. Therefore, fight my current Divine Realm and its battle goddesses. As the Main God of the Divine Realm, I approve it. Glory shall be given to the victors, and the defeated shall receive subjugation and another chance to challenge. I grant Lokina, the Lord of the Flipside, dominion over all Spirit Gods. Prepare under her command and issue your challenge.”

At that moment, part of the Main God of the Divine Realm’s authority was delegated to Lokina.

The Spirit Gods were stunned by the unimaginable measure and the vast command authority over them that had been transferred to her.

“You really aren’t in your right mind. If the entire Divine Realm collapses because of this, no matter how strong you are, the responsibility will be enormous. No—if you, a provisional Creator God, take their side, then it’s meaningless anyway. Subjugating them like this isn’t a good idea. Or do you actually want to destroy the current Divine Realm and create a new one?”

To her crooked reply, the answer that came back was indifferent.

“If you can do it, then try. I will not interfere in this battle in order to keep it fair. So fight with everything you have.”

Lokina stared at the absurd Main God of the Divine Realm for a moment, then combined the command authority over the Spirit Gods she had received with her own authority. It was a unique authority that surpassed even the Main God of the Divine Realm when it came to the development and victory of the Divine Realm. The only problem was that it required the Main God of the Divine Realm to permit her such rights and authority.

‘In the past, this authority would have made her a target of caution from every Main God of the Divine Realm. The moment war broke out, neighboring gods fearing rebellion would have imposed countless restrictions and forced unreasonable deals on her, quickly reaching her limit. They refused to hand over authority and command of the gods until the end, remaining suspicious. Thanks to that, rather than winning against the Demon God race, she ended up becoming the leader of a rebel army and spearheading the destruction of the Divine Realm.’

However, the provisional Creator God of Dimensions who had become her new Main God of the Divine Realm had not only opened his Mage God path and authority but had even handed over command of countless Spirit Gods.

‘The Mage God path, which was on the verge of reaching Creator rank and could not be compared to that of a mere Main God, combined with the Dimensional authority that erased the restrictions of space and time, and the title of Origin that endlessly raised potential. Although her current divinity was only Upper God rank, with the authority of the Lord of the Flipside, her Mage God path alone could surpass even Upper Main Gods.’

This was power she could never have dreamed of in the past, a Mage God path that even Main Gods could not handle. It was such overwhelming might that she realized a provisional Creator God in the newly changed Master Universe was equivalent to a former Creator General.

“Then let’s do that. I will lead them, overthrow the current Divine Realm and its Divine Realm Administrators, and replace them. To be honest, I never intended to let it slide anyway. I thought I had already forgotten the resentment of falling to the Spirit Realm because of past defeat, but seeing them again, I cannot contain this hatred. Even if you, the Main God of the Divine Realm, tried to stop it directly, a civil war would have erupted eventually. So I thank you for giving us this opportunity. From now on, I will offer my loyalty with sincerity.”

Using the command authority and Mage God path she had received, Lokina suppressed all the Spirit Gods at once. Ignoring the bewildered ones whose bodies no longer obeyed them, she forced them to their knees before the Main God of the Divine Realm.

‘Command authority reinforced by her own authority far surpassed the control of an ordinary Main God of the Divine Realm. If there was even the slightest goodwill or loyalty in their hearts, this was nothing. In this state, she could draw out their extreme potential and full power—which was exactly why the Main Gods of the Divine Realm had feared it so much.’

But there had been no need for that. There was a reason she could not tell anyone.

‘But do they know? Thanks to strengthening my support abilities, my capabilities as a Main God of the Divine Realm are actually below average? I am the strongest as a support for a Main God of the Divine Realm, but as a Main God myself I am mediocre at best, which is why I could never become independent. It was a foolish mistake from my childhood. I believed love would last forever, but emotions are just that—emotions. What arises in a moment disappears in a moment. No, hatred is an emotion too, so my obsession with it is equally foolish.’

It was an authority she had mistakenly overdeveloped after being fascinated by Odin’s passion, the man who had offered even parts of his body to grow stronger.

After that, she had never become a Main God of the Divine Realm, always under surveillance and restraint, until she fell.

‘But if the Main God of the Divine Realm trusts me this completely, I can definitely achieve victory.’

Mana amplified by her unique authority within her body endlessly created miracles. Every Mage God path she had once only imagined and deemed impossible was now becoming reality.

Drunk on that sense of exaltation, she bowed at the very front of the formation where all the Spirit Gods knelt—lowering the waist she had never bowed even before Odin—and offered her thanks.

‘It was gratitude for giving her a fair battle and a chance to avenge the resentment of falling to the Spirit Realm, and an expression of her will to win.’

That heart and will spread to all the Spirit Gods, and they arrived here with an unshakable belief in certain victory.

‘Numerically, their forces were clearly more than twice as strong, so they had even come thinking they could reorganize the entire Divine Realm. But as expected, their old nemesis had become absurdly stronger.’

And the enemy was not just one.

No matter how fair he claimed to be, they had not fully trusted the data that said he would side with those women, and they were paying the full price for their suspicion.

‘We came fully prepared, yet look at this mess? Fenrir, our trump card, can’t even move and was thrown aside, and the Main God with the greatest combat power has been reduced to that state. They’ve grown even stronger and more vicious than before. Moreover, seeing that even Torina can’t do anything against them, those battle goddesses must clearly be war gods of the same rank. If there are twelve Torinas in that state, we cannot win. If we use every means possible, we’ll still lose from the start.’

Lokina fully understood the Spirit God Kings’ feelings. But there was one thing they were mistaken about. The reason these beings had fallen behind in the changes of the previous Master Universe was something else. No, before that, she already knew why they were giving up on the battle so quickly.

“Do you think the reason I received command authority over the Spirit Gods from the Main God of the Divine Realm was simply because of my authority? Or did you judge it was thanks to my past experience as a Main God of the Divine Realm? Do you not believe in my power as a war god? Did you want me to show certainty of victory?”

“……”

As expected, it was distrust toward her, their commander. With only Upper God divinity, she could not convince them. Moreover, the fact that Hephais—the one who looked strongest—had charged out on her own and been miserably defeated by Torina had caused a massive drop in morale. Some of the Spirit Gods who held no direct grudge were already retreating.

No matter how good the power within the Divine Realm was, if dying caused their divinity to drop, there was no point in doing something so foolish.

‘That blacksmith who only has a good body and good luck mistook herself for a war god just because she became one and acted out, only to end up like this. I won’t let her off later. No, I’ll make thorough use of her starting now.’

Lokina ground her teeth as she thought of Hephais, whom she had sent to the rear for treatment. But the immediate problem was that the enemy had recognized them.

‘They will definitely charge at us right away. In any battlefield, the basics are to eliminate the one who has learned Mage God paths that can influence the fight the most.’

Sure enough, the battle goddesses were forming their circular formation and showing signs of charging straight toward her. There was naturally no force capable of stopping a charge from twelve war gods on Torina’s level.

‘Now it is my turn to step forward.’

If she did not prove she possessed strength equal to theirs, not only the Spirit God Kings but the Spirit Realm Lords and every Spirit God would give up the fight and show signs of immediate surrender. On top of that, the Spirit Gods and Beast Gods from the Otherworld—who could have been their greatest force—were busy confronting each other and had been excluded from the battle for now.

‘Receiving all their power is wonderful, but the problem is that no coercive control that could hinder their growth potential was permitted. They are in a state of complete freedom with no loyalty control that an ordinary Main God of the Divine Realm would normally impose. They won’t listen.’

Of course, since she herself was included among those who had received such special treatment, she couldn’t say anything. Still, she felt like putting a bit in the mouths of these unruly fillies.

‘If we lose this pathetically, we’ll never be able to raise our heads in the Divine Realm again. They really are utterly immature. If we go back after losing so helplessly, we’ll truly never escape being stuck in the corner of the Divine Realm.’

She absolutely refused to receive this much support only to be pushed back.

‘I can’t even make the excuse that I lost because of restrictions like in the past. If it’s going to be like this, I might as well not have come out of the Spirit Realm.’

Since she could no longer be dragged back to the Spirit Realm, it was time to fight with her full power without hiding anything. She called forth and grasped the divine artifact she had kept hidden for emergencies even during the past rebellion in the Divine Realm.

‘It is a divine artifact specialized in facing Main Gods, created by processing all my Mage God paths into rune form and turning them into full power.’

Fuhahahahaha—!

Flames erupted from the branch-shaped sword that had revealed its form in this world for the first time, soaring into the empty air. The runes engraved on the blade heated up and burned away the laws of the world.

‘Unless under very special circumstances, this flame surpasses even the sun god’s firepower, whose limit is the extinction of Upper Gods. It guarantees infinite firepower equal to the mana invested. With the mana of the provisional Creator God of Dimensions now amplifying it, it can reduce even Upper Main Gods to ash and extinguish them. This is the completion of what I once tried to create to destroy the Divine Realm but had to abandon due to lack of vitality and budget.’

This was her full power.

She threw off the translucent robe that blocked vision, revealing her brilliantly flowing black hair, the endlessly trained body unique to battle-type goddesses, and her voluptuous curves. It was a body she had trained without end while dreaming of revenge once more.

Grasping the handle crafted from splendid magic stones tightly, she poured in amplified mana and shouted.

Fuhahahahaha—!

Swinging the flame sword that spewed fire high into the sky, she bestowed a blessing of mana upon Fenrir. There was already more than enough mana. The wolf god’s body immediately reacted to mana worthy of reaching Creator rank.

“Fenrir—! As a ground-combat mobile fortress, become the iron wall that protects me as I trample the enemy lines!”

Kwaaaaaaaaang—!

Oooooooooooh—!

Explosively pushing away the atmosphere, Fenrir’s body grew even larger. It was only natural, as its unique ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠authority allowed it to freely increase its size and defensive power according to the vitality or mana of its rider.

It was a size and power that could not even be compared to the time when it had led all the rebel forces in challenging the Divine Realm, when its open maw was said to have reached from heaven to earth.

Clack. Clack.

Lokina stood atop the head of the bowed Fenrir and looked down at the battle goddesses. She could feel it.

‘Even with this, I cannot completely defeat them. No, I am barely equal to Torina alone.’

No matter what happened later, she had to defeat both them and the Divine Realm.

‘Even if the Divine Realm is reduced to ashes and all the gods are annihilated, as long as I have the provisional Creator God of Dimensions with infinite vitality and divine power and my own authority as the Lord of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Flipside, restoration is only a matter of time. No—if it’s me, I am confident I can create a Divine Realm that will bring even greater prosperity than any other.’

That was why she had resolved to annihilate them all without exception.

Srrrrrrrrrrrrk—!

Srrrrrrrrr—!

The sound of a giant serpent’s scales scraping echoed throughout the entire Divine Realm. A black serpent illusion that coiled around the whole Divine Realm slowly began to take physical form.

‘It was created in the rear by drawing out Kurkana’s Creator-rank creation power—the one who stretches across the sky—to its limit, forcibly feeding her the liquor made by condensing the sap of the universe. As expected, infinite vitality is truly magnificent. At least it could be completed.’

Srrrrk—!

Shuhahahahaha—!

The giant serpent’s head rose, so enormous that even Fenrir—who already passed through the clouds—looked small. It gazed down at the Divine Realm with eyes filled with murderous intent. If it opened its mouth, it could swallow the entire Divine Realm in a single bite. Both the Spirit Gods and the gods of the Divine Realm were struck with terror and could not move.

It was not merely large in size; it possessed divinity appropriate to that size. Its presence already surpassed that of a highest-tier Divine Realm.

‘Of course. Because Jormungandr, the Divine Realm Annihilation Fortress, is a mobile combat Divine Realm.’

She materialized that colossal body by combining the divine power and authorities of all the Spirit Gods under her command.

“Watch carefully—! With all the authority and support of the Main God of the Divine Realm, see just what kind of war god I am—! And Torina—!”

Awooooooooo—!

Shuhahahahaha!

Fenrir let out a long howl, and Jormungandr, finally revealing its full form, took a deep breath. The Mage God path sword, endlessly enlarged by mana, burned as it pointed toward the battle goddesses in their circular formation.

No—the tip of the sword was actually aimed at Torina, who had turned pale with shock the moment the Divine Realm Annihilation Fortress Jormungandr appeared, a fortress that had been discarded due to budget consumption bordering on delusion and endless vitality expenditure.

“H-how is that thing here? Just building Fenrir nearly bankrupted us, so who on earth made Jormungandr, which requires over a hundred times more vitality? What kind of sugar daddy did that rotten-headed bitch find to complete it?”

At her crude language, the surrounding battle goddesses frowned and tried to caution her, but the vicious tone of the Main God of the Mage God path who had materialized that miraculous giant fortress rang throughout the entire Divine Realm.

“I will repay all the debts from the past right now. This time, I will send you to the Spirit Realm with my own hands. Along with that precious Divine Realm you poured blood, sweat, and tears into!”

At Lokina’s murderous ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shout, the battle goddesses’ expressions twisted even more strangely. A sudden enemy had appeared, along with a giant fortress, and even the Main God leading them was extremely bizarre. Of course, personal grudges of that level were already beyond consideration. They knew they themselves were hardly any better.

The problem was the wording.

“Has Torina ever shed blood and sweat for the Divine Realm? Why would such an expression even come up? Did you go around spreading false propaganda?”

“It wasn’t blood and sweat, it was cold sweat. She was scared of getting beaten if her mistakes were discovered. It’s rare to find a Main God with so little talent outside of combat.”

“Ignorant. Noisy. Causes accidents. The worst possible combination is perfect.”

“If it weren’t for those early battles, we never would have become friends. At this rate, even our dignity is going to drop along with hers.”

“No matter how much etiquette education Gaiana gives her, what’s the point? The moment she’s out of sight, she goes right back to how she was.”

The barrage of finishing blows struck Torina, who had become as mute as if she had eaten honey and could not refute them because of the past wrongs she had committed. It seemed everyone had quite a lot of complaints.

“Precious Divine Realm? When we told her to bring the basic temple form to build in the Divine Realm, she brought a single-room log cabin?”

“Honestly, we didn’t need to fight the male gods, but she crossed the line. She shouted, ‘If I win, you can do whatever you want!’ and it just so happened that the negotiation hall was filled with the primordial war gods.—! There was no way any conversation could happen after that.”

“She always thinks she’s on the battlefield—! Do you know how much we suffered afterward because of her?”

“The husbands of our high-ranking subordinate gods are the primordial war gods, so we couldn’t even go all the way and ended up in an awkward confrontation that nearly ruined the Divine Realm. There is no greater shame.”

“We had only just stabilized things, and now she’s dragged in war gods holding past grudges like that. What the hell is she doing?”

At the mention of past grudges and enemies, a brief silence fell among the battle goddesses. Then, with a few awkward coughs, the atmosphere softened.

“Ahem! That could happen, so let’s move on.”

“Yeah, let’s just let it slide.”

Because their Divine Realm had been a small resort-like place on the frontier, rumors of their presence had never spread. But when the Dimensional Lord promoted them two ranks at once, everything was exposed in the Main Divine Realm. Thinking about the pressure and schemes that had poured in afterward was horrifying. Since they never knew when someone holding past grudges might come looking for them, the battle goddesses had tacitly agreed to overlook invasions like this one.

Another big reason was the strangely familiar faces they saw in the enemy camp.

‘We definitely killed them, yet they somehow survived and came back. And it’s not just one or two. I have no idea what’s going on.’

They had roughly grasped the situation. It was a case of their old enemies from the very beginning—who had fought and lost to them—banding together to challenge them once more. Criticizing Torina any further for bringing in past enemies would only be digging their own graves, so they stopped and simply looked for an opening in Lokina, who stood silently atop the wolf god’s head with her flame sword drawn.

After all, they knew that once the caster died, any Mage God path would disappear. Both the giant serpent god and the wolf god were ultimately nothing but tools created by Lokina’s Mage God path, so they poured even more murderous intent toward her.